This will so enlarge your chasm,that a great volume of water will rush into the red-hot interior,which will cause a series of such terrific eruptions that large islands will be upheaved.By the reduction of the heat of that part of the interior there will also be a shrinkage,which,in connection with the explosions,will cause the earth's solid crust to be thrown up in folds till whole continents appear.Some of the water displaced by the new land will also,as a result of the cooling,be able permanently to penetrate farther,thereby decreasing by that much the amount of water in the oceans,so that the tide-level in your existing seaports will be but slightly changed.By persevering in this work,you will become so skilled that it will be possible to evoke land of whatever kind you wish,at any place;and by having high table-land at the equator,sloping off into low plains towards north and south,and maintaining volcanoes in eruption at the poles to throw out heat and start warm ocean currents,it will be possible,in connection with the change you are now making in the axis,to render the conditions of life so easy that the earth will support a far larger number of souls.
"With the powers at your disposal you can also alter and improve existing continents,and thereby still further increase the number of the children of men.Perhaps with mild climate,fertile soil,and decreased struggle for existence,man will develop his spiritual side.
"Finally,you have apergy,one of the highest forces,for it puts you almost on a plane with angels,and with it you have already visited Jupiter and Saturn.It was impossible that man should remain chained to the earth during the entire life of his race,like an inferior animal or a mineral,lower even in freedom of body than birds.Heretofore you have,as I have said,seen but one side in many workings of Nature,as if you had discovered either negative or positive electricity,but not both;for gravitation and apergy are as inseparably combined in the rest of the universe as those two,separated temporarily on earth that the discovery of the utilization of one with the other might serve as an incentive to your minds.You saw it in Nature on Jupiter in the case of several creatures,suspecting it in the boa-constrictor and Will-o'-the-wisp and jelly-fish,and have standing illustrations of it in all tailed comets--luminosity in the case of large bodies being one manifestation--in the rings of this planet,and in the molecular motion and porosity of all gases,liquids,and solids on earth;since what else is it that keeps the molecules apart,heat serving merely to increase its power?God made man in his own image;does it not stand to reason that he will allow him to continue to become more and more like himself?Would he begrudge him the power to move mountains through the intelligent application of Nature's laws,when he himself said they might be moved by faith?So far you have been content to use the mechanical power of water,its momentum or dead weight merely;to attain a much higher civilization,you must break it up chemically and use its constituent gases.""How,"asked Bearwarden,"can this be done?""Force superheated steam,"replied the spirit,"through an intensely heated substance,as you now do in making water-gas--preferably platinum heated by electricity--apply an apergetic shock,and the oxygen and hydrogen will separate like oil and water,the oxygen being so much the heavier.Lead them in different directions as fast as the water is decomposed--since otherwise they would reunite--and your supply of power will be inexhaustible.""Will you not stay and dine with us?"asked Ayrault."While in the flesh you must be subject to its laws,and must need food to maintain your strength,like ourselves.""It will give me great pleasure,"replied the spirit,"to tarry with you,and once more to taste earthly food,but most of all to have the blessed joy of being of service to you.Here,all being immaterial spirits,no physical injury can befall any of us;and since no one wants anything that any one else can give,we have no opportunity of doing anything for each other.You see we neither eat nor sleep,neither can any of us again know physical pain or death,nor can we comfort one another,for every one knows the truth about himself and every one else,and we read one another's thoughts as an open book.""Do you,"asked Bearwarden,"not eat at all?
"We absorb vitality in a sense,"replied the spirit."As the sun combines certain substances into food for mortals,it also produces molecular vibration and charges the air with magnetism and electricity,which we absorb without effort.In fact,there is a faint pleasure in the absorption of this strength,when,in magnetic disturbances,there is an unusual amount of immortal food.Should we try to resist it,there would eventually be a greater pressure without than within,and we should assimilate involuntarily.We are part of the intangible universe,and can feel no hunger that is not instantly appeased,neither can we ever more know thirst.""Why,"asked Cortlandt reverently,"did the angel with the sword of flame drive Adam from the Tree of Life,since with his soul he had received that which could never die?""That was part of the mercy of God,"the shade replied;"for immortality could be enjoyed but meagrely on earth,where natural limitations are so abrupt.And know this,ye who are something of chemists,that had Adam eaten of that substance called fruit,he would have lived in the flesh to this day,and would have been of all men the most unhappy.""Will the Fountain of Youth ever be discovered?"asked Cortlandt.
"That substances exist,"replied the spirit,"that render it impossible for the germs of old age and decay to lodge in the body,I know;in fact,it would be a break in the continuity and balance of Nature did they not;but I believe their discovery will be coincident with Christ's second visible advent on earth.
